Trump announces second round of US trade talks with China next week
United States President Donald Trump has announced a new round of trade talks with China in an apparent bid to dial down a bitter battle over tariffs between the world's two biggest economies.
The president said on social media that the meeting would take place in London on Monday, his announcement coming one day after a rare leader-to-leader phone call with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping appeared to calm rising tensions.
'The meeting should go very well,' said Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team.
The talks will mark the second round of negotiations between the two countries since Trump launched his trade war this year, targeting China with levies of up to 145 percent. Beijing struck back with countermeasures of 125 percent.
Following talks in Geneva last month, both sides agreed to temporarily bring down the triple-digit tariffs, with US tariffs cooling to 30 percent and China's to 10 percent.
But the temporary halt is expected to expire in early August and Trump last week accused China of violating the pact, underscoring deeper differences on both sides.
US officials have accused China of slow-walking export approvals of rare earth minerals, which the country had limited after the tariff war broke out, triggering alarm among US companies.
Other US concerns include alleged fentanyl trafficking, the status of democratically governed Taiwan, and China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model.
On Wednesday, Trump said on Truth Social that Xi was 'VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH'.
However, he reported a 'positive conclusion', following his long-awaited phone call with Xi on Thursday, which likely paved the way for further high-level trade talks – though a swift resolution to the tariffs impasse remains uncertain.
The Chinese foreign ministry said Xi asked Trump to 'remove the negative measures' that the US has taken against China, alluding to his administration's decision to revoke the visas of Chinese students studying in the US.
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